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SIREN has a vision of a new America where immigrants are valued, integrated, and seen as essential to our society, and where the human rights of all persons are protected and honored. SIREN’s core value is immigrant empowerment. We focus on immigrants themselves being the primary agents of change. By strengthening and deepening the participation level and leadership of immigrants, we work toward long-term systemic changes that promote social justice and equality, freedom from oppression, and an end to poverty. Through these long-term systemic changes, immigrants will have the opportunity for individual/social responsibility, self-determination and political participation. By accomplishing this, we will have a society that is compassionate, inclusive and united.

“Maricela is a phenomenal movement and spiritual leader in the immigrant and refugee rights movement. She is an impacted community member. She has a beautiful and bold vision of what is possible for communities. She is committed to centering wisdoms and leadership of those most impacted by racism/patriarchy/capitalism/intersectional oppression. She’s a driver. She’s a very successful fundraiser. She cares deeply about people, and she has the utmost integrity. She understands the difference between building for a moment as opposed to building for a movement.”

On March 6, 2019, it was our pleasure to welcome California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to our San Jose office where we talked about the Voter’s Choice Act implementation, voter rights issues, and the 2020 Census.

California's 2016 Voter's Choice Act ensures that voters in five counties - Sacramento, Nevada, Napa, Madera, and San Mateo - receive mail-in ballots 28 days prior to elections. SIREN leaders were able to share their feedback on the Voter’s Choice Act, as well as highlight their successes of the past election cycle, having added over 15,000 new voters, knocked on over 10,000 doors, and contacted over 160,000 voters throughout Northern California and the Central Valley.

SIREN is preparing to launch our 2020 Census Campaign and there is much work ahead in preparation for this momentous event to ensure that every person is counted. Join us in our campaign to register individuals in Northern California and Central Valley and volunteer and support our civic engagement efforts today.

California immigrant rights advocates commended Bonta's efforts. "We applaud Assemblymember Bonta for introducing this landmark legislation," says Maricela Gutiérrez, executive director of Services, Immigrant Rights & Education Network, an advocacy group active in the California Bay Area and Central Valley. "Such databases have been a back-door channel making it easier for ICE and CBP to continue to ramp up their deportation of community members."

Fresno immigrant advocates believe a “long overdue” new advisory committee will make a dent on issues affecting the local immigrant community — despite having no funding attached.

The Fresno City Council on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution to establish a 15-member immigrant affairs committee. The committee will be tasked with advising the City Council on issues related to immigrants, according to the resolution.

In June 2017, the City Council turned down a proposal to establish a legal defense fund for immigrants facing deportation.

The proposal asked for the city to include $200,000 in its 2017-18 budget for its contribution to the public-private legal fund that had been pushed by immigration and civil rights advocates.

Some acknowledged that not having to make an upfront funding commitment for the advisory committee might have played a role in the unanimous support for Thursday’s resolution.

Samuel Molina, state director for Mi Familia Vota, said he and others had been advocating for the committee for about a year and a half.

“It’s long overdue,” Molina said.

While he agreed that having no funding attached might have contributed to the passage of the resolution, he believes the committee can accomplish several things.

For example, it shows the immigrant community that the City Council stands with them and takes their concerns seriously, he said. The committee has the potential to address several issues within the immigrant community, like transition into citizenship and language barriers.

Plus, similar committees in other jurisdictions have shown to be effective. “Committees have worked to develop strategic plans on addressing immigrant issues and needs,” he said.

Council Member Luis Chavez said the city has to start somewhere when it comes to communicating with the immigrant community and including immigrants in the city’s decision-making process.

“This is a way to bring them to the table,” he said. “I think what we are trying to do here, is the first step in building a bridge with city hall and the immigrant community.”

Each council member will nominate two members and the mayor will appoint one, Chavez said. All committee members are expected to be in place by the end of March or early April, and the group will start its work soon after that.

The committee’s meetings will be subject to the Brown Act and will be open to the public, according to the resolution.

Eliseo V. Gamino, chair of the Central Valley Leadership Roundtable, said he hopes the committee will have resources and accountability.

The committee should be based on assistance and in “helping keep families together” – a need that has recently been illustrated with the case of a Navy veteran who fears could be deported, Gamino said.

But Gamino said the committee does need adequate resources to be effective.

“It has to have appropriate resources and accountability goals to help families stay... together and avoid deportation without due process,” he said.

Chavez said the committee will have city hall resources, as well as access to department heads, the city’s attorney’s office and access to his personal office.

Issues the advisory committee can help address, Chavez said, range from long wait times for international flights at the Fresno International Airport due to an inadequate number of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, to offering English as a Second Language (ESL) classes and making citizenship classes more widely available.

The legal defense fund is an issue the committee could bring back to the table as well, he said.

SIREN started the 2019 year in the immigrant and refugees rights movement with the federal government in a partial shutdown, where more than 800,000 federal workers were working without pay due to a failure between President Donald Trump and Congress to compromise over a useless and unnecessary border wall.

And on January 25, after 35 days of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, a budget continuing resolution was passed to open the government for another three weeks — without funding for the border wall.

From the resistance by members of Congress who refused to give in to Trump’s border demands, a major theme rang true — immigrant voters helped put Congress in a position to resist this discriminatory and racist wall.

For the November 2018 midterm elections, we saw record voter turnout among immigrants on the regional, state, and national level. Though SIREN doesn’t engage voters on behalf of candidates, we heard the frustration from voters in those districts where incumbent members of Congress lost.

Our volunteers made more than 80,000 phone calls to Congressional Districts 10 and 21, who were represented by Rep. Jeff Denham and Rep. David Valadao, respectively, this past election. The number one concern voiced by immigrant voters was how Congress wasn’t doing enough for immigrants.

From not protecting immigrant youth by failing to pass a clean DREAM Act to not pushing back against Trump’s draconian immigration executive orders, immigrant voters shared their disapproval for their members of Congress and their empty promises. As a result, the two incumbents lost their congressional seats this past November, along with other incumbents across the state and country.

Pro-ICE supporter Ben Bergquam, left, and Jaimie Loza, right, who spoke out for immigrant rights, have a heated exchange at the community rally outside the Hall of Records building, Tuesday Aug 8, 2018. The demonstration was held to protest recent arrests by ICE agents at the Fresno County Courthouse. JOHN WALKER FRESNO BEE FILE

Since mid-July, Immigration and Custom Enforcement officials have been making arrests at Fresno’s courthouses, violating people’s right to due process and continuing to stoke fear within the immigrant community. It’s no coincidence that Fresno County is home to one of the fiercest in-state critics of California’s sanctuary policies, Sheriff Margaret Mims, who has proudly announced that her deputies and ICE have a strong working relationship. Though she claims that she is complying with state laws, the experience of community members in the Valley proves that there continues to be tight entanglement between her office and ICE. In our daily interactions with the immigrant community, providing legal services and know your rights trainings, we have heard more and more stories about a growing fear of contacting local law enforcement because of legitimate concerns of potential deportation.

The Central Valley is being acutely impacted by Trump’s war on immigrants – so much so that my organization, the Services, Immigrant Rights & Education Network is poised to open a new office in Fresno due to increased demand. I have witnessed the plight of immigrants in our community firsthand since I was young. I grew up in the Fresno area as the daughter of immigrant farmworkers, hearing the stories of abusive employers and seeing my family and neighbors racially profiled by police and targeted by ICE. Now, as the executive director of SIREN, an immigrant and refugee rights advocacy organization, I’ve been connecting with many people who have been swept up by ICE in their brutal campaign.

SIREN | Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network

SIREN’s mission is to empower low-income immigrants and refugees in Santa Clara County through community education and organizing, leadership development, policy advocacy and naturalization services. We believe that all people regardless of legal status or nationality are entitled to essential services, human dignity, basic rights and protections, and access to full participation in society.

As we fight for immigrant and refugee rights, we ask you to consider making a donation or becoming a monthly donor. Your support will directly support free legal services, advocacy work for more just laws, and leadership training for community leaders.

Free Weekly Removal Defense Clinics

Every Wednesday in the Bay Area Office 9:00am - 4:00pm. No appointment is necessary.

Free Weekly "Know Your Rights" Clinics

Every Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. in the Bay Area Office. No appointment is necessary.